Some presentation tips from Jeff Bonforte, posted on a blog called "Yet Another VC Blog":
- Use lots of screenshots or images of your product or service (or team)
- Reisist slide animations. Use the “dissolve” transition between slides.
- Shorter presos are better. 5-8 slides is ideal. 10-20 for longer or more detailed presos.
- Limit or eliminate text. You are there to speak. They are there to interact and listen, not read.
- Send PDFs of your presentation, not PPTs as followup.
- Tell a story. Every presentation needs a plot (1-3 underlying points). For Al Gore, it was “The planet is in trouble, and it’s worse than you thought” and “We are to blame, but if we now we can also be the solution.” The rest of his amazing presentation were just supporting elements to that plot line of his story.
- Reduce the size of everything. As a default PowerPoint (and Keynote even) make everything too big. White space is your friend.
- Don’t pass out your slides (unless they are for a board meeting). Don’t send your presentation in advance (there are exceptions to this rule).
- Make your own color palette and stick with it for the entire presentation. Generally, you should only use 1-2 colors (plus black and grays).
- White backgrounds are best. Don’t use backgrounds other than solid colors of very subtle gradients.
- Charts: Reduce categories. Don’t use legends. Reduce font sizes. Reduce guide lines. Use one color with multiple shades. Eliminate or reduce line weights.
